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Courthouse backers delighted with election results

Backers of a $125 million Polk County Courthouse renovation project are jumping for joy.

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Updated: 7:06 AM CST Nov 6, 2013

Courthouse backers delighted with election results

Backers of a $125 million Polk County Courthouse renovation project are jumping for joy.

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Updated: 7:06 AM CST Nov 6, 2013

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WEBVTT It's election night in Central Iowa and backers of a 1- hundred-25 million dollar polk county courthouse renovation project are jumping for joy. Todd Magel has that and Des Moines City Council election numbers tonight. We'll hear from backers of the Polk County Court project in just a bit, First those numbers from Des Moines city council. A clear victory for at large or city wide councilman and incumbent Skip Moore. With about 58 percent of the vote. Challenger Chris Diebel may have lost after trying to blame Moore for the City Franchise fee court case. Trouble is Moore was not on the council at the time. In Ward run one, roughly the northwest corner of Des Moines, Bill Gray And Sean Bag-new-ski are the top vote getters. but they didn't get enough votes to win...so there will be a run-off election December 3rd. And in ward three, the south west side of the city, Veteran council person Christine Hensley easily won another term with almost 60 percent of the vote And as we mentioned voters finally gave the ok to take care of the century old Polk County courthouse. The referendum won with 67 percent of the vote. The polk county courts project is a big one. 125 Million dollars would restore the original court house downtown. It will handle only civil cases. The Old jail across the street would become the criminal court annex. And the Old JC Penny/ Welmark building to the north will hold the Polk county Attorney's office ,juveniles courts and small claims courts. The entire three block area would become the "court's District downtown. "I AM DELIGHTED WITH THE RESULTS. THIS WAS SO BADLY NEEDED AND ALWAYS AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL I TRUSTED THE VOTERS. ONCE AGAIN THE VOTERS CAME THROUGH. SO TO ALL THOSE VOTERS WHO VOTED YES TONIGHT, THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH." Work on the courthouse district begins right away and will take about 7 years to finish. And don't forget And finally we're watching an extremely close race in West Des Moines. Long time incumbent Ted Ohmart is losing the race there to Rick Messerschmidt, but just 34 votes. Might be a recount there. And keep in mind all election results for the polk county are online at KCCI .com/

Courthouse backers delighted with election results

Backers of a $125 million Polk County Courthouse renovation project are jumping for joy.